-The Hindu Business Line Noted Gandhian economist Dr Sudarshan Iyengar surveys the distressed agricultural landscape, pinpoints its weaknesses, and prescribes solutions with their roots in Gandhian agronomics. Edited excerpts from an interview to BusinessLine: * Given the agrarian crisis in India today, how relevant are Gandhi's economic principles based on the village economy, and equitable distribution of resources? They are relevant in the context of Gandhi's view of gram swaraj (village self-rule), which...

-TheWire.in India already has several kinds of FPOs. So why have they not made a dent on farmers' woes? On July 5, 2019, the government of India announced its intent to promote 10,000 farmer producer organisations (FPOs) over the next five years, as part of its efforts to increase farmer income and reduce agrarian distress.   Such collectivisation can be very powerful. The best known example of an FPO is that of Amul...

-The Indian Express From economic issues to demonetisation or agrarian distress, Manmohan Singh has now become one of the strongest voices of the Opposition against Prime Minister Narendra Modi. New Delhi: Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has rarely made public interventions in the last few years since the BJP came to power but whenever he has spoken, it has weighed heavily for the saffron party to ignore or paper over. From...

-Down to Earth The court’s suggestions, like making MSP a legal right and increasing it to thrice the cost of production, are practical but need effort in implementation, say experts The Punjab and Haryana high court recently recommended that minimum support price (MSP) be made farmers’ legal right and it be set at three times the cost of production. But will these or a slew of other measures the court suggested address...

-Newsclick.in “Our population today is around 136 crore. Where will you get food grains for them through zero budget farming? This is sheer madness.” There is an inherent seductive charm to the term zero budget natural farming, for it makes the arduous occupation of agriculture appear beguilingly simple, an economic proposition without any risk or even requirement of capital. Coined by the Vidarbha-based farmer, Subhash Palekar, who was bestowed with the Padma...